I was told by a church member about Alpine Access. I signed up and was immediately offered an interview. I interviewed and passed with flying colors. I was then given a choice of companies to work for. I chose Macaroni Grill. I was asked to pay $45 for a Criminal and Credit Check. I paid this money on time as asked. I was also asked for Identification and a notarized I-9 by a certain date which was provided on time. (Actually early). I passed all checks with flying colors as well.
I was then given a choice of training times. I chose my training schedule. It would be Thursday and Friday September 6th and 7th (no weekend training) and then Monday - Friday with the times being from 4:00 pm - Midnight Central Standard Time. So another words, a 7 day training. Thursday's training went well, although a little boring because it appeared several, in fact most, of the people in the virtual training class were not at all with familiar with how to use a computer at all.including, things such as screenshots. I was also told I must have a HOME PHONE - which I purchased. Along with 2 headsets. One that goes to my home phone (Land line) and another that is USB that plugs into my PC. I spent over $150 to be sure I was prepared BEFORE my first day of training on September 6th. There were also several downloads that needed to be added to my PC which I also did before my training on September 6th.
I trained for 8 hours on September 6th and 7th. Then off for Saturday and Sunday and picked back up again on Monday September 10th at 4:00pm. Monday's class was ENTIRELY spent on tech problems others were having due to lack of basic computer skills. Also the fact they every time we started to train for the day, we would have several new people who were not with us from Day one and we spent all 8 hours backtracking through the basics therefore giving us NO TIME to actually practice and learn about the actual JOB we would be performing. This was frustrating. Much of our time was spent in chat room discussing how unorganized this was and wondered what was next as we were never given any sort of itenerary and everything was done on the fly. We were also informed that our trainer, Heather, had never trained any type of class and this was her first time.
Abruptly on Monday I was pulled aside and told I would be the first to take a "certification". I had NO IDEA nor did anyone in the class room have any idea what a certification was or what it covered. I was scheduled to do this on Tuesday, September 11th at 5:30. Also, that Tuesday I was to visit the Macaroni Grill Store 20 miles from my house for a taste test and to see how things actually work in the restaurant itself. I went to the restaurant and was greeted by a person working for Alpine. The restaurant meeting went fabulous. I learned so much and the food was exemplary.
We had 90 minutes after the restaurant meeting to make it back home and login to training. So that's exactly what I did. I was then pulled aside (the first one in the class) and began the "certification" which I still was not completely aware of what it would be. I was asked a few basic questions and then asked to take an order. Understandably, I was nervous. I felt as if I had maybe 1 hour of actual ORDER TAKING training which mainly consisted of assisting the other people in the class learn how to operate their computers when it was their turn to share.
I took maybe ONE order in practice due to time constraints and all the tech issues that were arising with other people in the classroom. Heather, my trainer began to pretend to place an order. She asked for something and I (using the skills I was taught) tried to search for the item she placed an order for. I could not find it ANYWHERE on the menu. Finally she moved on and ordered other items. I then did my best to complete the order. Once I was done, I was immediately terminated for "taking too long". That was it. I was cut off the classroom and all my credintials to login to Alpine Access were immediately removed.
I spent almost 30 hours of training. Mind you learning MORE about Alpine then anything about Macaroni Grill and my ACTUAL job that I would be performing for the client Macaroni Grill. Like I mentioned, this was September 11th. I was VERY hurt and upset. I called a co-worker that I had met in training that lived in my local area that I also met at the restaurant visit. She was FLOORED about this. She was scared to death as well because she knew from all the assistance I provided her, that if I could not make it. She surely would not make it either. She was also telling me how the chat room was completely filled with people confused and speaking about how unorganized this entire training had been and how they all felt left out in the dark about the entire experience.
I was terminated from Alpine. So the next day September 12th. I had a Doctor Appointment for Physical Therapy at 1:00 pm. I was given a medication for depression that made me VERY ill because I was so completely let down by the entire experience and embarassed in front of my friends and family members that had helped me pull together the funds to install a home phone and purchase the EXPENSIVE headsets required to perform a job I would end up not getting.
As I am in PT I get an email on my phone from Heather, the trainer, stating they would like to give me another opportunity to take the certification because "I HAD TOUCHED HER HEART, and she believed I would make a WONDERFUL Customer Service Rep" Well, being the fact that I had been terminated the night before and taken a medication that made my blood pressure drop to near fatal levels, I was VERY ill. I asked her if she could PLEASE give me some time (meaning hours) to get home and get to feeling better. No response. A few hours later, I was able to drive home from the hospital and went directly to bed due to feeling so severely ill.
Once I felt better I went to my PC and saw an email that said "You have one hour to respond and retake the certification". AGAIN I was floored. How would I have expected that to come when I had been terminated the night before? Did they really expect me to be at my PC waiting on their response when normal training hours fell between 4pm and Midnight. From there I emailed Heather and she replied that I was considered a "NO CALL NO SHOW". This was confusing as ever. HOW ON EARTH can I be a No call No show when I am TERMININATED? I explained to her how I was VERY ill and had supporting documentation to show that I was in the hospital straight from PT due to a medication that had a SEVERE affect on me. She told me to just re-apply.
I tried everything I could. I contacted everyone from any department I could. To this day, September 22 - I have not heard ONE WORD from Alpine about my status. Then suddenly, last night I was sent via email an invitation to reapply with the same program and to pick a time to interview. I chose THE FIRST AVAILABLE TIME which was today, Sept. 22nd at 1:00pm cst. AGAIN, I cleared my schedule and was EARLY to the interview which was being held virtually. I loaded the room and entered. After about 30 seconds I was tossed from the room and blocked. I wrote the trainer which I had seen her name in the trainer area THANK GOD quickly before I was booted. No response AGAIN. So anotherwords, I have been terminated from Alpine 3 different times. No explanation whatsoever and no help.
I am beyond words at this point. I have written everyone I could up to and including the C.E.O. - I am now here and i want to know if anyone else has had this problem with Alpine and if anyone knew of what I should do. I am out $150 and I am on DISABILITY! I am a mother of 4 and grandmother of 2 and I am barely making it. I feel like I was COMPLETELY ripped off and mistreated. I want recourse. I want to do it in a manner in which does not hurt Alpine but maybe helps them become more kind to the people they hurt on a daily basis.
Thank you for listening!
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